Taang Week '11
by Aria's Locket
Summary: Because everyone knows they desperately need seven whole days of love devoted to them. Various one shots dedicated to Toph and Aang in honor of Taang Week.
1. Day 1: Job

_**A/N:**__ Hello, my dears~! So, yes. It is indeed Taang Week this week and I for one am incredibly excited. Mainly because this gives me a valid excuse to write everyday and just see what my crazy mind comes up with. _

_So in case you're asking, "what kinds of one shots will these be?"…psh, beats me. I'm kind of improvising as I go along. Who knows what I'll come up with. I tend to take the themes and create some totally weird and unorthodox interpretation of them. I mean, even today's one shot came out of nowhere. But I hope you all enjoy my Taang Week submissions and I hope more people decide on participating. It really is a lot of fun!_

_All the info is in my profile if you'd like to know what the next theme is / you would like to take part. _

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own anything, and I don't make money off of it either. Oh well. Life is lame XD_

**OOO**

**Day 1**

_Job_

**OOO**

Toph had a terrible habit of taking her life, picking it apart piece by piece, and intently scrutinizing all the parts that she had managed to uncover. She was like a cat with a ball of yarn. The only difference would be that a cat would eviscerate whatever it was given. Toph wasn't trying to rip everything apart and destroy it (she liked to think that her life wasn't ugly enough in order to justify breaking it further; in fact, life was okay for the most part). She was simply separating everything to make them easier to look at.

She wasn't a fan of riddles, old sayings, or people who liked to beat around the bush. She liked for things to be presented in a way that was clean, neat, and straightforward.

Toph hated when people called her handicapped, disabled, special, or impaired. She was blind. She couldn't see. There. Simple. Short, sweet, and to the point. She even hated when people told her that her rich family and rich friends (well acquaintances really, and even that was pushing it) weren't used to her lifestyle and they just needed time to accustom.

No, she insisted. They hated it. They may not hate her, but they hated her life. That was it. It was the truth.

Katara often told her that her outlook on life and situations was far too harsh and she needed to start looking at things with less of a pessimistic attitude. But what everyone—especially Katara, worrywart that she was—always seemed to pass over was that Toph wasn't a pessimist. She was a realist.

Toph found it useless to look at things with anything other than a realistic view point. Because honestly, it was the only things that helped her make sense of situations, deal with her troubles, and figure out what to do next.

But what frustrated her the most were moments where she would try all this and still come up with no idea on how to move forward.

"I'm bothering you, aren't I?"

It was said quietly and with a sigh tagged on the end, almost as if the speaker herself was growing weary of the company she had created. And while she would have preferred to sulk and deal by herself in private, she sort of _had_ to be here. No, there was no sort of about it. This was all necessary.

"You aren't being bothersome. But I won't deny that you are being difficult." Two cups of black tea were poured—perfect; she needed to be alert right now.

She scoffed before she took a sip. "What the hell is the difference?"

Her companion shrugged and stared at her with honest eyes—eyes that didn't betray, only enlightened.

"You aren't bothering me because you aren't coming to me with useless and trivial problems. I'm interested in what you have to say and I'm always happy to speak with you." Always kind and honest. What she saw is what she got. That's what she liked. That's why she came here—why she _had_ to come here.

"However." A dramatic statement complete with a dramatic pause. Haha. Very funny.

"You're not making the conversation easy since you're purposefully bypassing the questions you don't want to answer. Now that is being difficult." A sip from their tea cup, and all of a sudden they thought they were a freaking certified genius or something.

She rolled her eyes at the theatrics and the bold statements. Had it been anyone else, she would've walked out and screwed the entire thing. She would take her chances on her own. But, added to the fact that this was the only person she could tolerate for extended periods of time, she willed herself to put up with the teasing.

Of course, she would make it clear that she was ticked off.

"I'm not bypassing sh—"

"Toph!"

"…fine. I'm not bypassing _crap_. There. Better?"

"Sort of."

"What is it with you and your virgin ears? You asked me to express myself and be honest, so I'm doing that."

"You don't have to curse, Toph."

An exasperated sigh. "Whatever! Who cares? That's not the point, Twinkles! That is so not even the freaking point of all this."

Though there was no doubt venom and frustration behind the retort, Aang took no offense to it. He was far too used to her mood swings and short temperedness that he didn't take the snapping statement to heart. If anything, he was glad that she at least was talking to him and at least attempting to create a stable ground for the two of them. That was a start. And he could work from that.

"So what is the point, Toph?" Aang inquired with a voice that sounded far too old and concerned to be that of a sixteen year old. "I'm trying to help you, but you're talking your way around things and—"

"I'm not talking my way around anything!" she insisted strongly. Toph took a breath and tried to remember that there was no need to yell and shout. But she always had trouble controlling her frustration. "I'm telling you everything like it is." The last part was said quieter, but still had a bite to it; a bite that burrowed deep in Aang's chest, and made him feel that this was starting to become pointless.

He tried again, attempting to be calm enough for the both of them. "Then kindly explain to me why I'm here."

She cringed. He made it sound like he was forced to be here, like he didn't even want to be here. She accepted that as the truth, even though there was a small part of her that thought she was exaggerating and he was just as frustrated as she was. In fact, an environment that Toph would have hoped would have been comforting, helpful, and understanding, just turned into a whirlpool of frustration and irritation.

Toph took the moment to look at him—really look at him. Slight taps on the floor and she was able to get a picture. She realized that this picture looked different from the last time she saw, and this only added to her foul mood. This time around, he had gotten taller, he wasn't as slim as he was before and sinewy muscles filled in the scrawniness that he was first awarded with three years ago…

_Three years ago…_certainly better times in her opinion. But that was just her opinion.

Toph struggled with her next statement and was debating whether she should even voice the frustration and the worry at this point. It was almost not even worth it anymore. She felt like giving up, to be honest.

But…

"I've been picking myself apart for a while now," she muttered, feeling slightly embarrassed with the wording that seemed to only make sense to her. "I zeroed in on something the other day, and it's been bothering me."

She couldn't see Aang's eyebrows come together in confusion, but she could feel the way the muscles in his hands tensed, like he was physically trying to grasp what he couldn't immediately get. She smiled. At least that hadn't changed.

He didn't say anything, and instead waited for her to speak what she was thinking, what made her so frustrated with him, with herself, with everything. She never used to be like this, so filled with uncertainty that she couldn't even muster the ability to voice what she needed to. But he…he made things so _complicated_.

Her thoughts and feelings were disorganized, and this was as simple as she could make it for him.

"I feel like I've lost you."

Aang's attempt to lift his cup and take a sip of tea to calm himself was quickly forgotten and that action was halted. He looked across the table again and attempted to read the girl's sightless eyes to try and find out whether she was trying to be light and joking or heavy and serious. With her he could never tell. Well…he _used _to be able to tell…but…

He was suddenly scared to answer her now.

After much hesitation he spoke quietly, a whisper, a breath filled with words. "What do you mean?"

Toph scoffed in her head. She herself didn't even know how to dignify that with an answer. That was the whole point of this stupid meeting at this stupid teashop, which was stupidly scheduled like it was a damn business proposition. It felt so freaking formal that it made her skin crawl. It was like this was what they pulled themselves down to: civil afternoon teas in a tea shop like they were old friends meeting up after fifty years.

They were more than that. They _needed_ to be more than that.

"Haven't you noticed anything different about us? At all?" Her eyes were hopeful that he would be able to fill in the blanks so that she wouldn't have to.

But his silence said it all. And it was just more irritation and frustration and anger and sadness and guilt and a desire for things to just go back to the way they were before he suddenly up and left and threw away everything they had before and—

She slammed her palms on the table. She couldn't do this. This was sickening, and it was making her uncomfortable and it was making her seethe with every raw emotion imaginable. This wasn't how things were supposed to be right now. This was _not_ what she wanted right now. She didn't go through the trouble of coming all the way over here—going out of her freaking way to see him after Spirits knew how long—to just be subjected to this nonsense. She was suffocating, and she needed to breathe.

Toph pulled him out of his seat roughly, and made him stumble out of his seat and trip over his feet only slightly. She shoved a trembling hand in her pocket and pulled out whatever coins her fingers touched. It was far more than what their order was, but Toph couldn't bring herself to care about the enormous tip she just gave their server. She just needed to get out of here. She needed to get _out_ of here and make him _see_.

It was cold outside, but she paid little mind to that. She ignored Aang's protests, the passerby's she pushed out the way, the tears that she would not allow to fall—_not here and not now_—and the red hot boiling rage that was just tempted to be spewed at the boy she was dragging with her. Dammit, she just wanted to make him see some sense. That's all she wanted. She wanted things to be the way they were before things got in the way.

An alley was found. What kind, she didn't know. Who was watching, she didn't care. But this was the only way that she could make him see what she was talking about since he was apparently too daft to realize it on his own. And damn it all, she was _going_ to fix this.

He was pushed against the cold wall of the alley and he looked down at her, trembling with rage and eyes fueled with a determination that he hadn't seen in ages. He was about to touch her shoulder—something he hadn't done in ages, actually—and perhaps comfort her into a more peaceful state of mind. She needed to say something and he wanted to know what it was.

Without warning, she reached, laced her fingers behind his neck, pulled him down, and crashed her lips against his.

It was an angry, passionate, desperate kiss. One that took the energy out of her and one that she had been _dying_ for. And it felt so familiar and so good and so much like three years ago when everything wasn't like it was now. When everything wasn't complicated. When everything was simple.

They were a bit clumsy at first—which was expected since they hadn't done this in _years_—but as the feelings and emotions became familiar, so did the way their lips moved against each other's. The familiar swell of affection filled her chest and made it ache in a good way. She was pouring all the passion and tears and all the thoughts of _I've missed you_ forth, hoping that this was enough to make him realize what he was doing, and what he was putting forth before this.

Toph stopped first and let her forehead drop and land on his chest. She wrapped her arms around his waist and just help him there, wanting to feel something familiar and right and stable. She missed this. Oh, how she missed this.

"You need to know the difference between your job and your purpose, Aang."

Aang looked down at the top of her head and smoothed down the hair at the top of her head. Running his fingers through her hair—he remembered this too. When was the last time they were like this? How long had it been? How long had he been gone?

"What the hell is the difference?" he affectionately quoted her.

Toph laughed lightly at the joke, but stopped quickly, afraid that it would turn into sobs. "You need to know the difference between what you have to do and what you are supposed to do."

Aang was about to ask for clarification, realizing that he wasn't following, but she interrupted again. "Your job. What you have to do. What people make you do. You being the Avatar and being this damn hero for everyone and solving everyone's problems like you're some kind of all knowing oracle. But you and I both know that you're only human."

She sniffled. No. She wasn't crying. She wouldn't. She couldn't.

"Then there's your purpose. What you're supposed to do. What you _want_ to do. What makes you whole, what makes you happy, what feels familiar to you, and what is the one thing that you can never let go." She inhaled shakily and tried to continue. "I know what my job is and I know what my purpose is. The only question is whether you know yours."

And there suddenly—as he was watching his breath puff out into the cold, as he still felt the pressure of her lips on his, as he held her, touched her, breathed her, loved her—

He understood.

He hugged her tightly then, and refused to let go, not this time.

It all made sense to him, and he wanted to kick himself over and over again into a bloody mess until he was just a wretch on the floor for not seeing it so obviously before. Putting his Avatar duties before what really mattered to him. Letting his job take a hold of his purpose—his desire—the only thing that made him feel content like he was now. And he realized what the three year absence did to them, and how they _had_ changed. When he told her that they would have to be put on hold until he completed what he had to do, he broke it all.

_I'm the Avatar. I have to do what I'm meant to do as the Avatar._

No. He wasn't meant to do that. He had to do that, but he wasn't meant to do that. It was just his job. His job that had gotten in the way of what he really needed. He couldn't believe it.

It was such a mistake—such a huge mistake!—that he couldn't believe that he had let it happen in the first place.

And there it was. Everything before the two of them, as straightforward and as simple as it could be.

He started muttering into her dark hair. "I'm sorry." His voice was laced with guilt, and he wondered how she had even had the patience to wait for him like this. She truly was incredible. "Spirits Toph, I'm so sorry. I—I don't even know why…how I…I'm so sorry, Toph. Really, I'm so sorry."

He meant it. He really did. Because he missed this, and it felt so right to be like this, and this is what he wanted and desired and needed and dreamed of and so much more that the words just poured through his mind without stopping.

Aang hugged her to him tighter and let her rest her head against his chest. They stood there, in the cold, letting themselves make up for lost time. Because he truly didn't want to let her go. Not now, and not ever, and he couldn't possibly fathom what he was thinking for so long.

Suddenly, right where they stood, things slowly started unraveling out of their knot, and became clear. It was simple. It was real. It came back to them—they found it. And they wouldn't let it go again.

They wouldn't lose themselves again. Not ever.

**OOO**

_**A/N:**__ I kind of just typed this one. It had no structure and it kind of wrote itself. While it's not as polished as I would have liked it to be, I find myself having a fondness for it. Hope you liked it, drop a review, and stay tuned for the rest of the week. Thanks!_


	2. Day 2: Marker

_**A/N:**__ Did you know that it went up to 102 degrees today where I live? I didn't even want to go jogging this morning because it was so hot and humid (secretly hates weather above 40 degrees). But it at least left me time to think of a one shot for today. _

_**Notes:**__ AU, though Toph is still blind. _

_**Disclaimer: **__Again, no. _

**OOO**

**Day 2**

_Marker_

**OOO**

When Aang woke up that morning, he already had the feeling that something was wrong.

Now, what that thing was, Aang had yet to quite figure out.

He checked his alarm clock that was still blaring on his night table. It read 6:30am just like it was supposed to. So that couldn't have been it. In a state of paranoia, he still checked over the alarm clock to make sure that it wouldn't explode or something because he _knew_ that something like that would happen to him today. He could feel it. But luckily for him, it seemed to be normal. No glue, no loose screws, no cheap firecrackers. It was totally safe.

He checked under his bed, in his closet, behind his television, just outside his window, around his desk, and even on the ceiling. But nothing. Nada. Zilch. The bedroom was deemed a safe zone and Aang could now proceed with caution through the rest of his house to see if anything else was amiss.

Like he was infiltrating a building filled with mines and traps, Aang carefully creaked the door open and was met with the sight of a quiet hallway with a seemingly innocent façade. There was the bathroom to his left, the stairs leading downstairs directly in front of him, and the bedroom belonging to his father, Gyatso, on his right.

_Oh that's right. He left already for an early shift at work,_ he mentally reminded himself. But that wasn't good since it meant he was home alone and was even more prone to an attack.

This was bad. This was _so_ bad.

Aang thought that the hallway looked safe enough. There wasn't much you could do to it to make it dangerous. But as he started to walk downstairs, he noticed something on the banister. Admittedly, he flinched and thought it was some kind of trick and didn't want to touch it. But upon closer inspection it was…

…a yellow post-it note.

_Huh. I don't remember putting that there…_

He plucked the note off of the wooden banister. Written on one side of the note in careful handwriting was a message.

_If you are reading this message, it means that you are under attack. Proceed through the house for further instructions._

_-T._

Aang frowned.

How did he know that _she_ was behind this somehow?

It was far too early in the morning for this. He still had to go get ready for school, have breakfast, finish his world history paper, and make it to class on time. Then after school, he would have to go to the Bei Fong house to tutor _her_. There was so much on his plate today and he was stretched so thin, that this wasn't the ideal ingredient that he wanted to add to his already hellish day.

But if he wasn't careful, she could pin some stupid practical joke on him.

_Ugh. I guess I have to play along now, don't I?_

He looked at the note again and noticed that it was scrawled in a familiar color. He stared at it harder and then gasped sharply. Aang darted back into his room, shuffled through one of the drawers in his dresser, and pulled out his pack of Multi-Colored Sharpies. He recounted the contents, and scowled.

His dark green marker was missing.

"Toph, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Aang shouted out of his room, knowing now that she had used that lock picking kit she had gotten for her birthday to sneak into his house…

…_again!_

He grumbled to himself as he exited his room and made his way back down the stairs again. This was ridiculous. This was going to be worse than the time when Toph bleached all of his black school uniform pants and made him walk to school looking like an idiot, or the time she planted a fake arrow tattoo on his forehead while he was sleeping and didn't tell him about it until the school day was over and half the school laughed at him.

If this was her way of thanking him for going out of his way to help her afterschool every day, he didn't want her gratitude.

Upon entering the living room, he noticed with a growl another yellow note stuck on the back of the couch. Reluctantly, he pulled the note off of the couch and read it.

_One of the doorways leading out of your living room is safe. The other two aren't. Pick the safe path if you don't want to be embarrassed XD_

_-T._

He frowned.

She must have thought she was so cute, even adding in a little emoticon like she was _so_ clever.

He supposed this was sort of his own fault. He was the one who offered to put up with this girl.

Toph was a new student at his high school this year and came from another city. She also happened to be in the same grade as Aang. Despite the fact that she was blind, she was actually pretty smart and got decent grades in school. The only drawback was that she couldn't write. Her assignments were typed out on computer using a laptop with a Braille keyboard, but the school insisted that penmanship was an important skill for her to learn.

And because Aang was part of the peer tutoring program at school—and also because he was incredibly nice—he offered to help the girl out as much as he could.

So for the past few months, he had been going over to the Bei Fong house every day after school and acting as both her study partner and her writing teacher.

Now that she had gotten exceptionally good at it, it seemed as though she was practicing by being a smart ass.

He looked at the three doorways. One led to the kitchen, the other to the dining room, and the other to the den. Aang walked to the doorway that led to the den first. He was about to step inside before he looked down at the matt that was placed at the entrance. He lifted it up and looked underneath it for anything suspicious. Sure enough, he found it.

Marbles. Dozens of marbles.

_Trying to make me slip, huh? We'll see about that._

Aang, feeling proud for avoiding the first trap, proceeded to the doorway leading to the dining room. This trap was easier to spot than the other one. If anything, it was sort of obvious. She had spilled olive oil all over the hardwood floor to try and make him slip again. Although he did note with exasperation that it would be an absolute nightmare to clean up, and he _would_ demand her help in the endeavor later, it seemed too…

…predictable.

Toph was more creative than this. This meant that she wanted him to advance.

That was a little intimidating.

Aang quickly made his way over to the kitchen and found another note on the kitchen counter. He took a breath, sighed, and forced himself to read the next message.

_Good job, Twinkle Toes. Now pick a door—any door!—and see if you can find me. Hurry or we'll be late for school. _

_-T. _

He needed to take this marker away from her. It was proving to be dangerous.

Already into the swing of just playing along, Aang saw that his options were limited to the basement and the backyard. Figuring that Toph was more likely to go hide in the basement then to run out into the backyard, Aang immediately proceeded to the door to the basement. He didn't think that she would put any tricks here. She would have warned him right? After all, he already passed through the kitchen without anything happening to him. What could she possibly do to him now?

He reached for the metal doorknob and…

…_BZZZT!_

"Ow! Dammit!" Aang screamed. He held his hand to his chest and cursed the pain that was shooting through his hand. He inspected it closely, seeing that no real damage had been inflicted and looked closer at the doorknob that he had tried to open up. He scrutinized it—being careful not to touch it again—and looked on the underside of it.

Sure enough, there was a buzzer placed on the bottom, and it was set on high.

She had gone and freaking zapped him.

Alright. It was official. This marker—this demon girl—was dangerous.

He tried to remove the zapper from the doorknob, but as he fiddled with it, the doorknob fell out of the hole in the door and landed on Aang's foot. Being that he had just jumped out of bed, he had no shoes on to stop the heavy metal doorknob—which was obviously loosened on purpose—from landing on his toe.

And it was then that Aang proceeded to spew curses that would make a sailor very very proud.

He growled and pulled at his hair. He had enough. This was so stupid and he just wanted to go to school. He stalked over to the door to the backyard, pulled open the door (after of course checking it for traps) and walked out into the backyard.

Had he not been so angry, he would have commented on the nice weather. But he was angry, so he instead glared at the birds chirping in the trees who were clearly having a better morning than he was. Aang looked around the back porch and noticed another post-it note on the arm rest of the porch swing. His eyes darted across it quickly. And this note was strangely very short.

_Look up. _

_-T. _

Aang did so, and deeply regretted it.

Not even a moment after his head lifted, he had a face filled with water.

The pressure from the stream of water was so sudden and so strong that it actually made him stumble backwards and fall onto the porch with a loud thud. A good amount of it had gotten into his mouth, and he started sputtering and spitting out all the water in annoyance. Aang scowled as he looked towards the source of the attack, prepared to give whoever was behind this a piece of their mind.

Sure enough, there was Toph, in her black school skirt and pressed white oxford shirt, holding his garden hose.

"Good morning, Twinkles!" she said brightly. "I thought I'd do you the favor of cutting your shower time in half this morning. Now you have more time to get ready."

Aang was wiping water off of his face and wringing out his shirt as he snapped back at her. "Don't you have anything else better to do than to sneak into my house and make it a war zone?"

Toph looked affronted. "How rude! And I woke up extra early just to prepare all of this for you. Talk about consideration…"

"Considerate? How can I be considerate? Just look at me!"

"Um, are you an idiot? Remember? Blind. Can't see."

"Oh you know what I meant!"

Toph laughed her loud and exuberant laugh and her cloudy eyes still managed to sparkly with mischief. She dropped the hose and proceeded over to her friend to help him up from the floor. He accepted the help and stood to his feet, his whole body feeling heavy from his drenched clothes. He was annoyed. He was angry. He was about to turn to her and yell at her and ask her why she was being such a brat…

…before she handed him a stack of papers stapled together.

Aang looked down curiously at what she offered him. "What is this?"

"Your world history paper," she told him. "I did the endnotes and the bibliography for you since you suck at it so bad."

Aang brought his eyebrows together and gave Toph a genuinely confused look. "When did you do this?"

"This morning. I brought my keyboard over, took your flash drive, finished it, and set all this up." She sounded incredibly proud if herself since she did manage to do all of this in only an hour and a half.

Aang stuttered for a moment and didn't know what to say other than a small thank you. Toph shrugged and patted him on the back hard. "You're welcome. After all, friends help friends, right?"

Aang nodded. "Right. And then they drench them with garden hoses two minutes later."

The girl smiled brightly and laughed. "See? You're finally getting it! Oh, by the way…" Toph dug around the pocket of her skirt and pulled out a green Sharpie. "Here's your marker back."

The boy took it into his hands with a roll of his eyes which thankfully went unseen by Toph. He saw her as she walked back up the stairs and felt her way back into the house and into the kitchen. She had been here so many times, she memorized where everything was and was able to make herself bowl of cereal without asking for any help. As he heard her rummaging around his kitchen and complaining about the math test they had today, Aang couldn't help but smile.

Yeah, she was a nightmare and sometimes she made him want to bash his head through a wall. But she was still his friend through and through, and he wouldn't trade that away for the world.

**OOO**

_**A/N:**__ This could fall under the theme of marker, right? Ah, whatever. I still like it. Let me know what you think, and I'll be back tomorrow!_


	3. Day 3: Jewel

_**A/N:**__ I don't know how these ideas come to me. I sit down without any sort of plan of action, and words just come. My muse must really like me. _

_**Notes: **__Canon Universe. _

_**Disclaimer: **__NOOOOO~!_

**OOO**

**Day 3**

_Jewel_

**OOO**

"It looks nice on you."

She sighed. She didn't blame him. There really wasn't much he could say at the moment. She was impressed that he had even managed that short sentence alone.

Still, she nodded in agreement. "Yeah. I guess so. If you like things like this…"

A pause. "Well, don't you?"

Toph frowned. She brushed her fingers over the incriminating pendant that hung from a silver chain around her neck. Anyone else would have been flattered. They would have gushed over the present, showed it off to everyone they knew, and would have smiled at their reflection in the mirror as they donned the gorgeous trinket. Admittedly, she tried to be happy about it. She even went so far as to thank the person that gave it to her and kiss them on the cheek for the sake of courtesy and appearances.

But something about it felt very wrong.

The girl chose not to answer her friend's question. She knew what she wanted to say.

_I like things like this that come from you. Only you. _

But the complications that would arise from her saying that to him would be irreversible. She knew that it would do more harm than anything else by saying something like that. So Toph stayed quiet, and only managed to stare blankly at the mirror she was sitting in front of.

Aang didn't push the question, so instead asked another one. An easier one. "What is it?"

The Earthbender let go of the stone and sighed. "I think he said it's a jadeite stone," she replied to him. "They're very rare and cost a fortune. He must have paid a lot of money for it."

Aang didn't move from his seat across the room, but he did shift uncomfortably for a moment before he spoke again. "Well, I guess that's a good thing. It shows he cares about you, right?"

Again, the girl remained silent.

The entire situation made her uncomfortable, and the only thing she was able to do was pick out the flaws that she found, no matter how miniscule. It was too heavy, the stone was too rough, she didn't like the chain, the clasp would break easily…

It was a fruitless attempt at bettering the situation and trying to cheer herself up. But it wasn't good enough to fix anything at the moment. The present was just too good, too expensive, and too impressive. When her parents feasted their eyes upon it, they immediately turned to the man behind the gift and beamed at him. He of course, like the gentleman he was brought up to be, remained humble and told them that nothing was too good for his fiancé.

The words made Toph want to scream.

"I hate it." It wasn't meant to be said out loud, but she had been chanting it over and over in her head so much that it escaped her lips and came out as a low statement filled with distaste.

Toph felt him lift his head and stare at her from across the room. All she did was keep staring sightlessly at the mirror in front of her—a ridiculous addition to her room that she always said was a waste for someone like her. She imagined, though, that she looked like a mix of misery, hatred, and confusion. Misery over the gift and what it meant, hatred towards the person who gave it to her, and confusion over what to do next.

She felt Aang's hand come over her shoulder and relished in the warmth that radiated from his hand. It was a gesture that he knew not to try in front of her parents lest they think that he was trying to steal their daughter away again. But in the privacy of her rooms, it was more than welcomed.

Aang struggled with his next words. "This isn't…you don't _have_ to do this."

"I kind of do," Toph bit back. "I was given an ultimatum. Stay stuck here alone for the rest of my life and never see you or anyone again, or…"

_Or this. _

"What happened to the girl who ran away from home with a little boy whom she barely knew just to escape and help him?" Aang countered. "The one who did what she felt was right for _her_, and not for anyone else."

Toph sighed. "I can't just escape them and never come back," she said miserably, hints of tears choking up her voice. "Even when I left with you I had every intention of coming back no matter how much I didn't make it seem that way. I can't just…escape my family anymore," she finished lamely.

Aang frowned and tightened his hold on her shoulder. "So this is how you're going to live from now on? Glaring at your engagement presents and spurning away your fiancé as a lame attempt towards rebellion? Is that really what you're allowing your life to come to?"

More silence. He spoke loudly and firmly. "You can't do this to yourself."

He was right, and it hurt. If family wasn't important and status was a thing of the past, she would run with him. She would go wherever he wanted and they would be together and they would be happy. She could be herself around him and her soul would glow and hum with life. There would be no dull moments or painful decisions to make. There would be no discomfort or pain. It would be easy with him.

So…why couldn't she just go and do it?

Toph felt Aang get down on his knees next to her. He took one of her hands and started pressing small, chaste kisses over her knuckles. She smiled at him, wondering how he could even stand to stare at her after she had been forced to go through with this. She wouldn't have blamed him for never speaking to her again. But here he was: helping her, kissing her hands, and speaking to her like she was his world. It made her want to cry even more.

In between kisses, he muttered a small question. "Do you love me?"

It was answered without a moment's hesitation. "More than you'll ever know."

At that moment, she knew that he was asking her to choose.

With her other hand, she brushed her fingers over the jewel that hung from her neck. It felt foreign, it felt cold against her skin, and it didn't make her feel special. The affection wasn't getting through to her like her fiancé hoped it might. If anything it made her feel worse. The stone should have made her heart swell, but it did nothing. Yet Aang's lips across her skin made her body warm and filled her with a love that she craved—a love that she needed. His touch, his presence, his voice, his smell…everything overwhelmed her and made her feel whole. She couldn't imagine a world without him.

A duty to her parents, or a duty to herself. A life of chains, or a life of liberty. This jewel, or his kisses.

She decided.

She wrapped her fingers around the green pendant, and yanked the chain off of her neck.

**OOO**


	4. Day 4: Globe

_**A/N: **__I'm not going to lie to you all, this one was hard. OTL_

_It took me a while to come up with something and it still feels like it's lacking something. So, sorry about that. Let's hope tomorrow will be easier. _

_**Notes:**__ Canon Universe._

_**Disclaimer:**__ *yawns* I'm not even going to repeat myself anymore…_

**OOO**

**Day 4**

_Globe_

**OOO**

Toph Bei Fong's childhood dream was the travel all over the world.

It had started when she was only six years old, when she remembered her tutor talking about the shape of the Earth and all the different places that existed on it. He spoke of the Water Tribes, and how it snowed every day instead of just during the winter. He spoke of the Ancient Air Temples, the fabulous architecture, the sacred temples and shrines, and the culture they left behind one hundred years ago. Her tutor even spoke of the Fire Nation, and how their islands were some of the most exotic and luxurious places in the world.

All of it fascinated her at a young age. The desire to leave her home and go to all of these places was too much for her. She wanted to go see it all and know what was outside her sheltered home. But the horrible part was that she _couldn't_ see any of it. All she would be able to experience was darkness. There would be no sights for her to behold, and the entire experience would be lost on her.

The day after, she ran away from home for the first time.

But for the first time, she met the Badgermoles.

A whole new world opened up for her then. A unique world that only she and her Badgermole friends could enjoy. As she practiced and honed her skills, she found that her so called sight surpassed everyone else's. She could see the ants crawling near the river, she could tell how tall the gates around her home were, and if she concentrated, she could even see the students of the University walking out of the building after being dismissed from their classes.

Earthbending was also a completely new opportunity for her. Every night when her parents slept, she practiced. She kept going and going until her feet started chafing and bleeding from all of the moves she had created, all of the secrets she had uncovered. She was Gaoiling's reigning Earth Rumble Champion, a title that she managed to keep for years to come. After initially feeling so useless, she had managed to find a way to explore, to feel, and to belong.

She wanted nothing more than to escape and travel.

But even that was impossible no matter how she tried.

"A little girl like you has no need for something as dangerous as traveling," her mother often told her. "Think of all the things that could happen to you out there. You'll be unprotected. You wouldn't last a day."

She wanted to tell her mom that she knew this, and had been practicing her Earthbending so that she wouldn't be defenseless. But it was a life she couldn't reveal. The little liberation she had given herself was done secretly, and she couldn't let her parents figure it out. Not ever.

She was doomed to stay here forever. And no matter how many Earth Rumble Tournaments she won, she would always be stuck here with nowhere to go.

Then, she met him.

"I don't get it. Why stay where you're not happy?"

His innocence was a breath of fresh air, but sometimes it prevented him from seeing the obvious truth.

"This is my home," she replied, "this is where my family is. I can't just leave them. Besides, where am I supposed to go?"

He paused and didn't say anything for a moment. She thought for sure she had dashed his hopes, and she almost felt guilty about it. But then he spoke.

"You could come with us."

He said it so easily, as if it were the most natural solution in the world. But he would learn hours after that conversation that things were never that easy. Despite all that she had proved to her family and no matter how much she had begged them to let her see the world, they only disappointed her. If anything, they left her with less then what she had from the start.

After the ultimatum she had been given that night, she still remembered her childhood dream of traveling the globe, seeing the Fire Nation Islands, going to the North Pole where it snowed every day, and running through the abandoned Air temples. She also realized that she just wanted to be free. It wasn't just the desire to travel the world. It was the desire to travel the world and breathe in the air of freedom that was waiting for her as well.

That boy—Aang—was the only person who could help her do that.

He was the only one in her life who realized that she wasn't happy, that she needed to break free, and that she needed help. He offered it without any hesitation. Despite how horrid she had been to him and how unwilling she had been to help him at first, the fact remained that he was the only one who understood her. The only one who _wanted_ to understand her.

So she didn't regret running away with him. While she hated the fact that she left her parents in a constant worry over her safety, she couldn't seem to part with the simple pleasures of traveling with the Avatar: his bison, his laughter, his determination, and his adventurousness. It was what she had been waiting her whole life for.

And for as long as she would live, she would forever be thankful to him.

**OOO**


	5. Day 5: Onomatopoeia

_**A/N: **__Cool. We've passed the half way point. Only two more days after this. So sad it's almost over. _

_**Notes: **__The same universe as __**Marker**__. _

_**Disclaimer:**__ Nope. _

**OOO**

**Day 5**

_Onomatopoeia_

**OOO**

"I don't want to do this. I _really_ don't feel right about doing this."

"Well if you keep fidgeting and acting all nervous, people will notice."

"But that's my point. They're going to find out, and we're going to be in so much trouble!"

Toph rolled her eyes. The hardest thing about dealing with Aang was his guilt-tripping conscience. If she ever suggested anything that was even the slightest bit unorthodox, dangerous, illegal, or some combination of the three, the little voice in his head would immediately start yapping it up about how they should _rethink their options_ or _realize the consequences_. She supposed that it wasn't such a bad thing that he knew the difference from what was right and wrong. She imagined that in certain situations, she would be eternally thankful for it. But more often than not, it got in the way of plans.

The girl grabbed the boy's wringing hands and tried to make him hide his anxiety. "Look, I used to do this a thousand times at my other school. The teachers will not know a thing, okay?"

But the boy groaned and pulled at his hair. _If he keeps doing that, he's going to be bald by the time he's a senior_, Toph thought. Their friend Sokka swore to her that Aang could totally pull off the shaved look, but she couldn't see him to decide that for herself.

"You helped your friends _cheat_ on tests at your old school?" Aang hissed at her.

A firm punch was landed on his forearm and Aang immediately yowled in pain. "Yeah, go ahead. Say it loud enough for everyone to hear."

The boy winced and rubbed at his arm. "Sorry," he muttered.

Toph shook her head and kept walking through the hallways towards their next class. "What amazes me is that you managed to study the completely wrong chapter last night. You're an honors student. Aren't you guys totally immune from doing stupid things? The teacher said the chapter loud and clear."

Aang glared. "Oh, shut up! It was an honest mistake. I mean…thirteen and fifteen sound similar, right?"

His friend did nothing but shake her head and sigh. "Look. Whatever. I've already established that you're now an idiot, but because I'm so nice, I'm going to help you." Toph leaned up towards Aang's ear and whispered as softly as she could. "You memorized the code I taught you this morning, right?"

Aang nodded tiredly. "Yeah, I memorized it. But no offense, chemistry is your worst subject. How the heck are you going to give me the answers?"

Toph smiled wickedly. "I already took the test in study hall during first period on the computer. So I'm allowed to sit in the back and study while you guys take the test now. I'll be flipping through the textbook, you let me know what answers you don't know, I'll find the answer for you, and you write it down. It's seamless. The teacher won't know what hit him, I promise."

Aang was about to nod and accept the plan, but then stopped and realized something. "Wait. You don't have the test. How can you tell me which choice to pick if you don't…have…the…oh my God, you did not."

A crisp copy of their test was in the girl's hands, brand new and in Braille for her to easily read. "Yup. I know. I'm brilliant."

Aang was trying not to strangle her. "How in the hell did you manage to get a Braille copy of the test. I thought you took it online."

"I did," she explained easily. "But I had Sokka sneak into our teacher's office and snag one of the tests."

The boy hung his head. He figured that he had something to do with this. Toph often got Sokka to do the craziest things for her.

"So," Toph continued happily, "we went to the back of the library where the Braille printer is during lunch. He recited the test and I typed it out and printed it. Now I can follow along with you!"

He was so tempted to shake her and scream right now. But he couldn't, since he really didn't want to draw any more attention to themselves at the moment. Maybe it was because Aang was currently paranoid, but it felt like everyone passing them in the hallway knew about what they were going to do.

"And you're sure about this?" Aang stressed.

Toph patted Aang on the shoulder. "Oh, come on. Have I ever done anything against you?"

"Yes!" Aang shouted angrily. "Plenty of times."

The blind girl ignored the comment and kept walking to the test. "Whatever. Details, details."

**OOO**

The moment the teacher told his students to flip over the test, Aang was about ready to cry.

He did know a few of the questions due to the fact that he was listening in class, but it was safe to say that seventy five percent of the test was Greek to him. It made no sense, and he could already feel himself starting to hyperventilate. He had never failed a test before in his life, and he didn't want this to be the first.

Aang averted his eyes to his left and saw Toph sitting three rows away from him. He had to sit in the back of the room so that he could hear Toph's cues. She was sitting back in her chair, grazing her fingers across the raised lettering on her chemistry textbook, and pretending that she was just getting a jump start on her homework. He shook his head and turned his head back to the test in front of him. It was either cheat or fail. He would deal with the horrible guilt later.

The first few easy questions were a breeze and Aang was confident in his answers. It was when he got to question thirteen that he was lost. Sighing and deciding that there was no use, he thought back to the rules that Toph had set in place.

When asking for help on a certain number question, you tap the wooden top of the desk a certain amount of times to indicate the first number. You tap the metal side of the desk a certain amount of times to indicate the second number. So for question thirteen…

_Tap!_ One tap on top.

_Clang! Clang! Clang! _Three taps on the side.

Toph immediately heard and started looking at the copy of the test she was hiding under her book. It seemed that she actually knew the answer to this one without looking at the textbook, because he immediately answered her.

_Click!_ Toph capped her pen. That meant the answer was C.

Aang nodded, buying the answer and immediately wrote it down. He came into problems with another question soon after and tapped his desk again.

_Tap! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!_ It was question sixteen.

Toph started flipping through the textbook for the answer. After a few seconds she nodded.

_Zip!_ She opened her pencil case. So the answer was D.

Feeling confident that this plan was working, Aang nodded and scribbled down all of the answers he didn't know when Toph communicated them to him. The teacher seemed terribly oblivious to the noise in the back, and was instead engrossed in the book he was reading at his desk. It was pretty easy to get the answers toward him, and the system that Toph had so cleverly come up with was pretty much perfection, just like she had promised him.

He felt bad that he was cheating like this, but if he came home with one bad grade, Gyatso would have his head. Besides, it wasn't like he didn't study. He just studied the wrong chapter.

The minutes rolled by and Aang was already at the last question.

_Tap! Tap! Tap! Clang! Clang! _Question 32.

_Click!_ Choice C.

Aang sighed in relief and filled in the correct bubble on the test. He let out a huge sigh and let his head hit the table roughly. He didn't care that he probably left a giant bruise on his forehead. He had finished the darn thing, and the teacher hadn't picked up on a thing. He kept his head on the desk for the whole period, even when the teacher started walking around to collect everyone's papers. He was too relieved at the moment to even bother acknowledging anyone.

When the bell rang, he felt Toph pat his head, whisper a "you're welcome" in his ear, and rush out of the room.

Aang lifted his head and exited the room after her. He quickly spotted the girl as she started putting her books away in her locker and pulling out the ones she would need for last period. Without really thinking about what he was doing, he raced over to her, wrapped his arms around her waist in a tight hug, and started spinning her around.

"Hey, hey, hey! Moron! Let me go!"

The boy quickly placed her down on the ground. "It worked! You're a freaking mad genius, Toph!"

Toph shrugged and smirked. "Well, I try."

He sighed in relief and let his head rest against the lockers with a giant, boyish smile plastered on his face. He was too giddy for words. He couldn't believe he had actually gotten away with this. "I totally owe you one, Toph."

Toph didn't need to see his smile to know that he was absolutely ecstatic. "Way ahead of you there, buddy," she reminded him firmly. "I expect to be treated to lunch today, and cookie dough ice cream better be included in there."

Too happy and relieved to care, he grabbed her shoulders and kissed Toph on both of her cheeks. "Hey, look, whatever you want!"

The girl froze instantly and didn't respond when Aang happily said good bye to her as he rushed off to his last class. It took the girl a moment before she came back to her senses, her cheeks colored with a pretty pink blush. It was unexpected, and she never pegged Aang as the sort of guy who would do something that unexpected. She even forgot to yell after him about touching her without her permission. But she supposed that wouldn't have been fair. It wasn't like she minded. It was kind of sweet in a way, and she wouldn't dare yell at him for that.

Then she shook her head and smiled to herself. "Idiot," she muttered quietly.

She closed her locker, turned on her heel, and walked to class.

**OOO**

_**A/N: **__This code is real. My friends and I made it up and used it during middle school. _

_To indicate the number question you're stuck on, tap the top of your desk to say the first number and tap the side of the desk to say the second number, just like Aang did._

_Then someone would use the following rules to give you the answer if they knew it: Choice A is drumming your nails on the desk. Choice B is kicking the desk leg. Choice C is capping your pen. Choice D is closing your pencil case. Choice E is tapping your foot on the floor. If you're unsure, you slam your pencil down on the table. _

_What's really funny is that we never got caught, haha! Anyway, hope you enjoyed. _


	6. Day 6: Hat

_**A/N: **__Sorry about the hiatus. Weekends are never good days for me to write during the summer. I always have way too much to do. But I am going to finish, I'll just be a bit behind. Sorry!_

_**Notes:**__ Canon Universe_

_**Disclaimer: **__I'm not rich, so I can't possibly be making money off of these characters. _

**OOO**

**Day 6**

_Hat_

**OOO**

Neither Aang nor Toph were used to world-wide publicity.

Before Aang was announced as the Avatar, people only recognized him as a particularly talented Airbender and one who got his tattoos extremely early on. While he was recognized for his success, he was treated normally. He played with his friends and blended in just like any other person at his temple without any extra attention.

While Toph happened to be a rich heiress, her parents never allowed her out of the house either. Actually, no one in Gaoling knew who Toph Bei Fong was. So none of the citizens there were paying attention to her because she was—for all intents and purposes—invisible. Even the Earth Rumble tournaments were limited to just praise from Gaoling citizens. But all the other fighters were jealous of her, and she would leave the scene before anyone had the chance to talk to her.

They were quite content in the fact that they weren't overly popular since it is how they lived the majority of their lives.

But word eventually got out that Aang was the Avatar. People also learned the name of the Bei Fong's mysterious daughter, Toph, who happened to be a master Earthbender as well as the world's first Metalbender. The fact that they also ended a 100 year old war made their popularity grow even more.

It got to the fact where Aang couldn't walk outside without being followed by a large crowd of girls and being sent boxes and boxes of flowers and homemade chocolates in the mail. His face was plastered on posters everywhere he went and people always recognized him no matter where he went. Toph had suitors come up to her doorstep frequently. They would sing songs, recite poetry, bring her gifts, ask for her hand in marriage, and permission to bear their children. The death threats she sent them didn't seem to faze them. They claimed it was all a part of her charm and she was actually deemed Most Eligible Bachelorette in Ba Sing Se.

All of the attention would get quite tiring at times, so the couple had to take drastic steps.

"So what would the two of you like for a drink…um...I'm sorry I didn't quite catch your names? I need them for when I call your order."

The first guest spoke. "Oh, um, my name is Kuzon. I'm just here visiting from the Fire Nation." The waitress nodded. There was nothing usual about that. Fire Nation citizens were welcomed pretty much anywhere now. Times had changed.

"Oh…and you are…?"

The second guest smiled and introduced themselves. "I'm Kwa-Mei and I'm just showing him around Ba Sing Se for a bit. He's never been here before and he's totally lost without me."

The waitress gave a small, polite smile. "So what will you two be having then?"

"Just bring a large pot of Oolong tea and two cups please," Kuzon asked.

The waistress tucked the order away in her head and told them that it would be coming over shortly. She walked away from the back of the shop and left the two mysterious customers by themselves. The two customers each followed the waitress with their eyes and made sure that she wasn't looking back at them. As soon as they saw her disappear in the back, they both heaved a sigh and relaxed.

Kuzon was the first to take off his Fire Nation cap. "Ugh. I hate having to wear this thing. It's so hot!"

Kwa-Mei rolled her eyes and pulled off the straw peasant hat she was wearing. "Well, at least your hat isn't twice the size of your head. Honestly, how do peasants wear these things all of the time?"

"It's meant to shade you from the sun, or in your case hide your eyes," Kuzon elaborated.

"Fine. But you shouldn't complain either. You said that was the only hat you could fine that covered your tattoos, Twinkles."

"Fine, fine. You're right."

After the years, it became necessary for Toph and Aang to create aliases for themselves whenever they wanted to go outside. Aang would dress up as his old Fire Nation friend Kuzon. Toph would dress up as a Earth Kingdom traveler who used the name Kwa-Mei, which she stole from Katara from the time they snuck into the Earth King's party back when they were kids (because honestly, Dong was a stupid name).

They quickly found out that once Aang's tattoos were covered, and once Toph let her hair fall loose and hid her cloudy eyes, they fit in almost perfectly. It wasn't uncommon to see travelers walking around the city, and now that the war was over it wasn't uncommon to see people of other nations in one area at a time. It gave Toph and Aang the opportunity to relax and avoid the buzz of fans and admirers.

Toph sighed and rested her cheek on her knuckle. "I kind of wish we didn't have to do this, though. Why can't people just back off?"

Aang laughed and unconsciously started brushing Toph's bangs out of her eyes. "Well, we don't have to. We can let all of the girls kidnap me and let all of those men drag you off to marry them." He was sent a half hearted glare.

"Over my dead and rotting body." She muttered into her hand, silently enjoying the feel of his fingers brushing against her hair and her forehead. "They're all crazy if they think I don't mean every threat I throw at them."

Aang shrugged and moved his fingers to brush through her long hair, enjoying the fact that it was hanging loose today. "They are creatures that we will never truly understand."

Toph laughed at the joke. "They are a species that has been left unstudied for decades. We should kidnap them and perform experiments."

"But then that would draw attention to us all over again."

"No. Not if we do it correctly."

The Avatar laughed and leaned closer in to his date at the table. He averted his eyes momentarily to make sure that they wouldn't be seen from all the way in the back. He turned her chin to the side to make her face him. "Can't you forget about maiming your fans and focus on what little bit of peace we managed to grab today?"

No matter how many times he doted on her, complimented her, or even placed a small kiss on her cheek, she would always turn pink with embarrassment. He found it endearing that such a tough girl would melt at such innocent attention. While she liked to curse such behavior, he rather enjoyed it. Even now, he was just holding her chin and keeping their face only a few inches apart. He really wasn't doing anything else, but her cheeks were already heating up fast.

Toph looked away, muttered something under her breath, but didn't pull away from him. "Why do you always have to do stuff like this?" she said with no real malice behind the words.

The young Airbender chuckled. "Because you look cute when you're all embarrassed."

As if to further justify the statement, her cheeks flared up even more. She scowled. "Yeah, whatever."

She felt his lips graze the corner of her mouth, and she turned to meet him in a kiss. She sighed and smiled lightly into it. She sort of didn't mind the hassle of dressing up like a stranger and sneaking around if it meant they could just enjoy the time they spent together like this. It was worth it in the end and she personally didn't mind the little teasing that he made at her. She would forgive it for now, since their little moments like these were too nice to ruin.

"Kuzon and Kwa-Mei I have your…your…your, oh _Spirits!_ Are you _kidding me_ right now? I must be dreaming!"

The two benders broke the kiss, froze, and hung their heads in a sigh. They forgot that their waitress was still coming back…and they had already taken off their disguises. It was no use trying to shut her up. She was going to yell it out to the whole store in…three..two…one…

"Everyone! It's the Avatar and Toph Bei Fong!"

Both of them winced at the loud proclamation and frowned.

Toph spoke first, already grabbing her hat and quickly placing it on her head. "Wanna go back to the house?"

"Ladies first," Aang offered, already starting to slide out of their booth.

The date would have to be finished at their house, he supposed.

**OOO**


	7. Day 7: Ring

_**A/N: **__Alright. Finally. We're in the home stretch. Sorry I cheated a little, but this is the last prompt and then it's over. So thank you to everyone who put this story in their favorites and on their alert list, and a special thank you to those who took the time to leave a review. Of course, it's still not too late to drop a line and tell me what you think. But even if you just read it, that still means a lot too. So thank you everyone!_

_**Notes:**__ Canon Universe_

_**Disclaimer:**__ For the last time, no. _

**OOO**

**Day 7**

_Ring_

**OOO**

Aang remembered the first time he had ever visited the Earth Kingdom.

He remembered walking alongside Gyatso, a scared little eight year old boy who had never seen anything other than the Air Temple he had grown up in. Gyatso warned him of all of the strange things he would see: the green clothing, men with hair on their heads, people who ate meat every day, and, of course, the Earthbenders.

It was a simpler time: a time with no war and no stress over the duties of the Avatar. There was only peace and a sense of curiosity running through him at that age. All over him was a culture unknown to him, and all he wanted was to explore every corner of it and let what he was being deprived of fill his mind and curb his curiosity.

The one things Aang recalled from the trip was the small little store he passed by when they were on their way for some lunch. It was a very tiny establishment—probably family owned—with a little display of rings on the front window. The small boy had caught sight of all types of bands from gold to silver. Fitted into each band was a type of jewel. From the scrolls he read in the library, he could identify a few of them…emeralds, jades, diamonds, sapphires, rubies…

It was then that Gyatso came over to him and told him that they were wedding rings.

Growing up in a temple filled with men, he didn't understand the concept of marriage at first. In actual fact, he only ever visited the Western and Eastern Air Temples a couple of times a year. There was no such thing was marriage in their culture, not really. He knew that men and woman often times were companions, but in their culture, the opposite sex rarely saw each other. There certainly wasn't any room for life time commitment to a single person.

But being a young eight year old boy, Aang thought that the idea sounded lovely, of course when he actually managed to fall in love. He asked Gyatso if he could get married one day. Would that be allowed? Would he get to buy one of those rings for a pretty girl one day?

But Gyatso laughed at the boy's enthusiasm. "Silly, boy. This is an Earth Kingdom custom, something that only the people here practice. We have our own customs to learn and worry about." And the subject was left at that.

Aang understood his mentor's words and didn't press on the issue. But the image of all of those wedding rings on display in that Earth Kingdom shop would be something that he would day dream about for years to come

**OOO**

Toph understood what marriage was at a very young age.

Despite the fact that she was different from everyone else, she was still bred as a young lady of nobility ought to have been bred. Her mother dictated to her all that she must accomplish and all that she must do. She was to be raised to be the perfect wife, the perfect lady, a porcelain doll of immaculate condition. Toph was meant to know how to embroider, how to sew, how to play at least one instrument, how to recite poetry, how to dance, how to speak, how to sit, how to stand, how to smile, and how to curtsey.

Everything that her mother taught her and made her do was meant for the purpose of impressing her husband. And it was something that accepted at the young age of eight years old. Already at such a young age, she was keeping her Earthbending habit a secret, for she knew it wasn't a lady's pastime and it would be improper if her mother found out about it.

"Just think about it, Toph," her mother would whisper to her at night as she brushed through the girl's long hair right before bed. "If you keep up your lessons and do what you're supposed to do, you could wind up with a pretty little ring on your finger one day. You'll be so happy."

The girl had impeccable manners despite what others outside of this house might have thought. So she nodded, and smiled, and agreed with her mother as she was supposed to.

But one night, the curiosity took a hold of her and she couldn't help but whisper a small question to her mother. After all this talk of marriage and spending your life with the person you loved, the girl couldn't help but ask.

"When can I choose him, and where can I find him?" If this ring business was such a big deal, she must have to search hard for this man who would eventually ask for her hand. It was a wonderful thought. Though the girl was slowly escaping to her rebellious side, she would not rid herself of romantic thoughts until she was ten.

"You won't have to do any of that," her mother explained simply. "We already know who you'll marry. All you have to do is impress him when you are old enough. Oh, he's lovely Toph. His name is…and he's tall and loves…and…always…you'll love him…"

Every time this mystery suitor came up, she would drown her mother out. Commitment to someone she didn't know always gave her a sick feeling in her stomach. And soon, the idea of marriage became a disturbing one to her.

**OOO**

Often, when they talked, they found that their views often clashed. They were opposites in every sense of the word: their gender, their culture, their element, their appearance, their attitude…all of it conflicted. So they supposed it wasn't that strange when they argued about certain topics.

"How can you say that?" the twelve year old Avatar scolded. "You're so lucky to live in a nation where you can share your life like that. It must be amazing."

"Marriage is a prison," the blind girl countered. "It isn't there for happiness, it's there for status. Very few people I know get married for love. It's a conspiracy meant to instill misery into the lives of innocent people."

The boy was confused. "How is spending your life with the person you love a conspiracy?"

"Because no one knows what love is," Toph muttered to herself, thinking back to that noble boy saddened at the news of her disappearance no doubt. "It's so easy to like a person and think that you love them. But once you get married and you're forced to spill your heart out…you might not like what you see. Then the whole ordeal was a waste."

"You're reiterating a worst case scenario," Aang told her firmly. "What happens if you've known this person for years? Their secrets are your secrets, their life is also your life, and everything you do can't be done without that person by your side. You know that if you were to part, there would be a hole in your life that you wouldn't be able to fill. Then the act makes sense. More than that, it's almost like it's second nature to consider marriage. It can be a beautiful thing, you know."

He was underexposed to the idea, and all he knew was what he observed, read, and heard about it. All of the fanciful things and beautiful stories.

She was overexposed to the idea. She hated the idea, because she heard the sad stories of the woman who were unhappy with the husbands they were forced to take.

It was an idea that they would never see eye to eye on. He would forever wish for it. She would forever scorn it.

**OOO**

"When will you let me put a ring here?"

He brushed the thin finger next to her pinky on her left hand. He was silently measuring the length all the way around, deciding which size would suit her better.

He heard her laugh softly. "When will you stop asking me the same question every day?"

He neither smiled nor frowned. He was pensive. "When you decide to answer it."

He started rubbing his thumb in circles over the skin of her finger. She relaxed at the act and knew how he stared at that simple patch of skin, and she knew what he was envisioning. She knew that her lack of an answer made him sad, but the idea of having that bauble on her finger scared her.

"Why is it so important to you?" she asked honestly. "What if it goes wrong? Then what will we do?"

He paused for a moment and said nothing, still tracing circles on her skin. It wasn't as if she didn't care for him. No, that definitely wasn't it. Even something as simple as this—sitting in a bed together with her back against his chest and his arms wrapped tightly around her with no one around to disturb them—it filled her with a warmth that she had never experienced with anyone else. And she knew that it wasn't worth losing. She would never want to part with it. It was far too important to her to let go. She needed it. But there was always that memory of her mother's friend crying about the curse that ring on her finger brought upon her.

It wasn't that she thought Aang would bring her misfortune…it was just that small chance that maybe things wouldn't turn out the way they should.

"Do you want to know why it's so important?" he whispered in her ear softly. "Because I want that to be a permanent reminder for me, for you, and for anyone else, that you managed to find a happiness that is so special and rare, it can only be found with one other person. It's unique, and often times it makes someone's life glow with a new purpose that wasn't there before."

She couldn't fathom a response. But she did feel water collect in the corners of her eyes at his words. "I know that nothing will go wrong," he continued. "I know that sometimes it is forced upon people for the wrong reasons. But something can only go wrong if one of us denies that there is something between us that we can't live without out. But that won't happen, because I know that it's here. I'll go in front of the world and swear that I can't let you go. I never will, I can promise you that."

Always the sweet talker, she mused. He always knew what to say. But there was such sincerity in his voice, and she knew from years ago that he was an honest person and would never say something like that for thrill or for the sake of spewing pretty words. His were raw and real, and she could feel them permeating every fiber of her body. "All of that…in a little ring, huh?" She heard him laugh and she joined in with him.

"I guess it can't be so bad then, right? If you want it so bad, then I guess I can agree to it."

She felt him smile against her shoulder and mutter words into her skin. "Then we're going to have to make it official, right?"

He turned her chin towards him so that her face was right on front of his. She placed her hand over his heart, a habit that she had gained over the years, since the desire to hear this heart thrum was too great to ignore. She leaned forward slightly until their foreheads touched and their exhales mingled.

"Toph…will you marry me?"

It felt like he was enveloping her then. She could feel him everywhere, inside and out. It was then that she knew this was something that couldn't be found anywhere else. She could keep looking, but she would only find it right here, just like he would only find it right here. She answered with ease.

"Of course."

**OOO**

_**A/N: **__Ah! So much fluff! But I thought that I should end on a note such as that. Again, thank you all for reading. Please let me know what you think, and I'd appreciate it. Hoped you all had a nice Taang Week (even though it was over three days ago, haha). Love you all, and thank you!_


End file.
